Effects of formononetin on proliferation and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells and its mechanism

LI Tong; LI Xin; GAO Feng; HUANG Jiahao; GAN Jialiang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-266X.2016.10.001

Abstract：Objective To observe the effects of formononetin on the proliferation and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells in vitro and to study the underlying mechanism.Methods The colorectal cancer cells HCT116 were randomly divid-ed into two groups:the observation group and the control group.Cells in the observation group were treated with 25μmol/L, 50 μmol/L and 100 μmol/L formononetin, and the control group was treated with the same amount of dimethyl sulfox-ide.The proliferation ( A490 ) of HCT116 cells measured by MTT assay, the apoptosis was assessed with Hoechst 33258 staining, the expression level of HOC transcription antisense RNA ( HOTAIR) was quantified by qRT-PCR, and the ex-pression level of Bax protein and Bcl-2 protein was determined by Western blotting.Results Compared with the control group, the A490 values of the HCT116 cells constantly decreased along with the increased doses and prolonged time in the observation group (all P<0.05).The numbers of apoptosis cells in the observation group treated with 25 μmol/L, 50μmol/L and 100 μmol/L formononetin after 48 h were respectively (3.20 ±0.84), (20.20 ±1.92) and (31.00 ± 2.92)/HP, which were all higher than that[(1.6 ±1.14)/HP]of the control group (all P<0.01).Compared with the control group, the expression of Bcl-2 protein and HOTAIR was significantly decreased, but the expression of Bcl-2 protein was significantly increased in the observation group (all P<0.05).Conclusion Formononetin may inhibit the growth and induce the apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting HOTAIR to regulate the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein.